Paladin
:For related articles, see Category:Paladins The Paladin is a Holy Warrior hybrid class. Their primary role is a melee fighter and secondary healing class. Paladins have the ability to play a variety of different roles, including DPS (Retribution), Tanking (Protection), and Healing (Holy). They can cast auras and blessings that provide useful buffs for other players while withstanding heavy physical damage with plate armor. Background The paladins are the virtuous defenders of the weak and tireless enemies of the undead. Mixing elements of the warrior and the priests of the Holy Light, the paladin is a tough melee fighter. The tradition of the Holy Light is unique to a few of the Alliance races and the blood elves of the Horde. The paladin is a warrior of the Holy Light. He upholds all that is good and true in the world and reviles all that is evil and sinister — especially undead and the Burning Legion. He offers succor to the beleaguered and smites his enemies with holy fervor. He is particularly potent against undead, as these creatures threaten the goodly races and the Holy Light burns them terribly. The presence of any evil is reprehensible to the paladin, but he focuses his efforts on destroying undead and demons. These warriors uphold the tenets of the Holy Light and defend the Alliance from the predations of the Horde. Found in almost every corner of Azeroth fighting the forces of evil and barbarism, these stalwart warriors of faith ceaselessly uphold their vigil against demonic forces from beyond the Dark Portal. Humans and Ironforge dwarves are the most likely to become paladins, as these races revere the Holy Light. The paladin order, also called the Knights of the Silver Hand, grew out of humanity’s culture, and its greatest heroes and fiercest proponents are humans. Ironforge dwarves possess the toughness needed to withstand the onslaught of the paladins’ many enemies. High elves rarely become paladins. Paladins are the embodiments of goodliness. They help the innocent and punish the wicked. As such, all paladins are of good alignment. During the Second War, some paladins' eyes glowed with inner power of the Light, such as the paladin Turalyon. This is not the case for all paladins, though it occurs in game with certain paladin armor sets. Some are Retribution Paladins, auradins, or are sun paladins. Some are known as paladin warriors (who sometimes become epic paladin warriors). Some paladins choose to become exemplars, and templars. Second War Paladins are a holy order of warriors whose purpose is to defend and shepherd the war-torn populace of Lordaeron. The Archbishop Alonsus Faol perceived that the pious Clerics of Northshire, who suffered such terrible attrition in the First War, were ill-suited for the dangers of combat. Along with many of the surviving Clerics of Northshire, he sought those of only the greatest virtue among the knighthood of Lordaeron and tutored them in the ways of magic. Led by the crusading Uther Lightbringer, it now rests upon these Paladins - christened the Knights of the Silver Hand - to heal the wounds sustained in combat and to restore faith in the promise of freedom from Orcish tyranny.http://www.battle.net/war2/units/paladin.shtml Third War Although the Paladins were once loved and revered throughout the lands of Lordaeron, they have since fallen on hard times. The entire Order of the Silver Hand was disbanded for refusing to kill innocent townsfolk who were believed to be contaminated by the dreaded Undead plague. Disenfranchised and driven from their former homes, the Paladins still work selflessly to protect humanity from the gnawing jaws of evil. Empowered by the Light, these mighty warriors now brandish both warhammer and holy fire in offensive battle against all who would trample the meek and innocent. http://www.battle.net/war3/human/units/paladin.shtml History The Knights of the Silver Hand was the original paladin order, the Silver Hand was formed in the Second War and was at its height until the time of the Plague. As paladins were immune to the Plague (and indeed all diseases), many members of the order survived the initial push of the Scourge. Unfortunately, the corrupted Arthas Menethil killed many paladins upon his return (including Uther the Lightbringer), leaving only a scattered few. The Order of the Silver Hand still exists but it's only a shadow of its former glory. Following the invasion of the Scourge, many of the order's paladins joined a zealous group of followers of the Light known as the Scarlet Crusade. After leaving the Crusade, some paladins decided to join the Argent Dawn. In a World of Warcraft questline, Tirion Fordring vows to restore the original order. Others fled south, to the Kingdom of Stormwind. The paladin order, still referring to themselves as the Order of the Silver Hand, now thrives under their new leadership at the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind City. Over time, the followers of the Holy Light spread their philosophy to the dwarves of Ironforge who soon adopted the tenets of the order as well. The Blood Knights are a paladin order within the blood elves. The Vindicators are a paladin order within the draenei. Code of Conduct A paladin must be of good alignment and loses all light abilities if he ever willingly commits an evil act. Additionally, a paladin’s code requires that he respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use her help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents. While he may adventure with characters of any good or neutral alignment, a paladin will never knowingly associate with evil persons, nor will he continue an association with someone who consistently offends his moral code. A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers or cohorts who are of good alignment. A paladin who violates this code, becomes an ex-paladin, and loses all Light-given abilities and can not train further as a paladin until he atones for his violations. Paladins don't always have to work within good or neutral organizations as seen by the Scarlet Crusade and others - however, they do have to believe they working for good organizations or have faith that their cause is good and just. Overview Paladins have several Undead-specific abilities such as Exorcism, Holy Wrath and Turn Undead which make them very effective when fighting Demon and Undead targets (not including Forsaken players). In PvP the paladin's most well-known strength is his/her ability to outlast his opponent(s) (bubble heal). With plate armor, their ability to heal themselves, and a near-complete invulnerability every few minutes, they are a hard target to take down. They can also do a surprising amount of burst-damage and have good access to stun abilities. They also make great supporting characters, buffing and healing team-mates while being able to survive the enemy's attention. On the downside, most of their abilities are buffs that can and will be dispelled during PvP. Their plate does not help them against spellcasters and they are also quite vulnerable to spells and abilities that shut down a magic school, since all their magic is of the Holy school. The paladin is equally strong in PvE as a melee DPS, tank, and healer since the release of patch 2.3. Historically, a melee class, they were made a healing class with the Burning Crusade expansion and now as we transition into WotLK we see that Paladins are once again becoming a very strong meelee DPS class. The paladin has some of the most mana-efficient and low-threat healing spells in the game, allowing them to be the main healer of the tank in a group. Their healing efficiency makes them great endurance and battle healers, though they are completely lacking in the group-healing area (healing several group members at the same time) and healing over time can only be gained through items such as the Fel Reaver's Piston. The only Paladin spell that can heal multiple targets simultaniously is the Judgement of Light, and this will not heal non-melee classes. This typically means that the tank and DPS members of the group must be more careful of aggro management when a paladin is healing. Paladins also make good tanks. Like their warrior brethren, they can gear to become immune to crushing blows and can deal sustained threat thanks to their Spiritual Attunement mechanic. They also excel at tanking multiple mobs at the same time through use of their primarily reactive threat and Consecrate, an AOE effect that deals significant threat to all mobs within range. This is compensated by a somewhat lower durability compared to warrior tanks - paladins have slightly less innate damage reduction than warriors, and the average tank paladin will have slightly less health than a warrior of similar gear early in raiding progression. This is colloquially known as the "stamina gap", though the gap quickly closes (and may even reverse) as gear progresses, thanks to changes to talents in Patch 2.3. Paladins now make very good DPS fighters with the release of patch 2.3 and patch 2.3.2. They have increased burst damage, though their sustained damage remains in need of attention. With better buffs, negating threat, and reduced timers they are able to deal out better damage than before at the front lines of battle. Lack of true offensive melee capacity for years has limited the experience of paladin in that field, but the recent rebalancing of the role had led to a veritable flood of retribution paladins, most of which have chosen the role because they believe the change to be much better than it was. The average paladin sustained DPS ranks in below an equally geared and skilled DPS warrior or other hybrid melee DPS class, but not by much. Their raid utility is primarily made up of their damage-increasing buffs to their group and raid through Improved Sanctity Aura, which gives +2% to all damage for all party members affected by the aura and Improved Seal of the Crusader, giving +3% crit to all damage abilities used on the target of the judgement. The total damage increase is currently roughly on par with those of a feral druid or enhancement shaman. Now with the upcoming release of patch 2.4 Blizzard has removed all spell damage from retribution S1-S2 gear and T4-T6 gear and replaced it with strength and critical strike stats which will further increase their DPS. Races The paladin class can be played by the following races: Alliance * Dwarves * Humans * Draenei Horde * Blood Elves Blood Elf Paladins belong to the Order of Blood Knights, while Human and Dwarven Paladins are usually from the Knights of the Silver Hand. Currently, Draenei Paladins are members of an organization called the Hand of Argus, but this may change with time as the Draenei are now part of the Alliance and some may consider joining the Silver Hand. Weapons and armor From the start, paladins can wear cloth, leather, or mail armor, and can train to wear plate armor at level 40. They may use a shield. They can summon their own Warhorse at level 40 (which they can obtain for 90 silver from a trainer), which can be quested to an epic Charger at level 60. They can use the following melee weapons (either innately or via a Weapon master trainer): *1H Swords *2H Swords *1H Maces *2H Maces *1H Axes *2H Axes *Polearms Paladins cannot dual wield. They also cannot use ranged weapons. This includes: *Wands *Guns *Bows *Crossbows *Thrown weapons For ranged damage, a paladin has several limited options: *Taking the Engineering profession in order to obtain limited ranged capabilities such as dynamite, bombs, and trinkets. *:One notable option for a paladin who specializes in Gnomish Engineering is the Gnomish Death Ray, since a paladin's invulnerability shield prevents the player from taking the damage normally associated with using this item. (Note: Blizzard has mentioned that this will no longer work in past patch notes, although it has not been changed yet. Actually, they noted that while in blessing of protection if the trinket fails and backfires, you will still take damage, however you do not take damage while casting it, and nothing official has been stated on this topic.) *A ranged trinket such as ; it has a 3 minute cooldown, , which has a 15 minute cooldown or which has a 3 minute cooldown *Non-Engineering explosives such as EZ-Thro Dynamite or EZ-Thro Dynamite II *Using Judgement in combination with a seal (see below) allows for a limited range attack similar to (but more limited than) a Druid's Moonfire *Spending Talent Points in the Holy tree to acquire the spell Holy Shock *Spending talent points in the Protection tree to acquire Avenger's Shield *Using Hammer of Wrath on an enemy with less than 20% of their health left *Blood Elf paladins can also use their racial ability, Mana Tap, to have some limited pulling of mana-based mobs *Magic Candles dropped by Kobold Geomancers in Elwynn Forest can also be used. They have a one minute cooldown and stack up to 20. *The Decapitator (alt link) dropped by Prince Malchezaar in Karazhan can also be used. Has a 3 minute cooldown, 513 to 567 damage and a 40 yd range. Paladin's primary stats This is a list of the paladin's primary stats, not necessarily in order of importance; that is left up to the player based upon his goal and play style. Abilities Paladin play a key role in buffing their allies. They also have a few other spells that complete the class' arsenal. Auras In addition to spell buffs, a paladin can also boost their group's abilities through the use of auras. Only one aura may be active per paladin, but multiple paladins can use different auras within a group (although two paladins using the same aura gain no additional effect instead defaulting to the aura cast by the higher level Paladin). The auras themselves cost no mana to operate, have no innate cooldown, and may be switched between at will. Blessings Blessings are spell buffs that can be used on the paladin or other characters. Most can be cast on any friendly target but some are limited to the paladin's party. Blessings last 10 minutes unless noted. Seals Seals are short-term self-buffs which boost the Paladin's power temporarily. Effectively, they add a weapon proc to their melee strikes. Additionally, Paladins can unleash these seals upon an enemy with Judgement. Each type of seal will have a different effect when unleashed. Talents Paladin talents are split into 3 categories: * Holy * Protection * Retribution Talent builders can be found at: * Official Blizzard site * WorldofWar.se * WoW Vault * ThottBot * Merciless * Wowhead * WoW Den's Talent Calculator Quests Paladins have several class-specific quests which allow the character to learn valuable spells. End-Game Expectations Paladin]] At one time (before paladin class corrections) people would expect you to heal if you didn't have a priest, druid, or shaman in your party because you are the only other class that can heal. However, Shadowpriests, and Elemental Shamans generally have more healing abilities than offspec Paladins because they work off of Spell Damage instead of melee or avoidance stats. But now with the class corrections everyone will expect you to do as you are specced but may be called upon to off-tank, off-heal, or off-DPS if need be. Tanking Tanking is made viable by increased aggro and mitigation talents, the use of Spiritual Attunement for longevity, Consecration and a taunt in the form of Righteous Defense. The Paladin is almost as good (if not on par depending on gear) as a Warrior at main tanking and is the best multi-mob tank, as a great deal of their threat is based on reflective and AoE damage. DPS "Holy Warrior" The Retribution tree, primarily Sanctified Crusader and Crusader Strike, allows for increased damage. Utility from judgements is also valued, albeit situational. With the release of patch 2.3 retribution paladins became viable for both soloing and raid environments. They were given more increased sustained DPS, more raid utility and a negating threat modifier. In Patch 2.3.2 Crusader Strike was changed to give 110% weapon damage instead of spell damage along with Sanctified Judgement returning 80% mana from Seals mana cast from 50%. Patch 2.4 will change retribution armor stats by removing spell damage and replacing it with stats like critical strike, strength, and haste to further increase their DPS significantly more. http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php These are a few of the gradual changes Blizzard is making and will continue to do to bring the Paladin back to its original intent as a melee fighter as stated in a blue post. An alternate would be a Shockadin. "Shockadin is a term for a Paladin who has the majority of his talents in the Holy tree but still manage to do serious damage." Healing A Paladin is valued in raids for the buffs they bring and their ability to cleanse. In raids, when not specced or geared to rival other dps classes, or not specced and geared well enough to tank, they are usually used as a healer. Paladin healing is valued in that it is very mana efficient being primarily "crit" based unlike other healing classes, if not the most powerful; the quick, smaller, low-threat heal of Flash of Light, which is often spammed group-wide, fills a niche in healing. Patch 2.3.2 changes *Crusader Strike (Retribution) now causes 110% of weapon damage and no longer gains any bonus from spell damage. *Righteous Fury: This spell will no longer cost twice the listed mana to cast. *Sanctified Judgements (Retribution) now returns 80% of the Seal's mana cost, increased from 50%. Patch 2.4 changes *Items intended for Retribution Paladins have had their stats adjusted. Retribution Paladins will see an increase in their dps as a result. Spell damage is being removed from gear and being replaced with haste. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/worldofwarcraft/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-41158303&pid=534914&page=3 http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/02/10/8-piece-sets-return-with-patch-2-4-kind-of/ See also *See Paladin races for paladins by race. *See Paladin list for notable paladins of various races from lore. *See Paladins: Tips and Advice for further advice and tips on the Paladin's varying roles. *See the Paladin Category for further information on the Paladin class. **Paladin Armor Set Comparison *Statistics of paladins from Warcraft II * Divine Magic *Spell Damage Coefficients External links * Paladin Guide * Geld's Paladin Guide * RETLOL - The Guide * Tankadin Guide by Gestalt * Paladin Tanking 101 *Paladin DPS Calculator - Simulates long term paladin DPS based on selected Seal and stats. Still in Beta. *The Light and How to Swing It - weekly paladin feature at WoW Insider Paladin twinking guide http://www.wowwiki.com/Paladin_twinking_guide#Making_a_29_Paladin_Twink_.28Holy.29 Category:Classes Category:Paladins Category:WoW Classes Category:RTS Classes Category:RPG Classes Category:Core Classes